Belly dancing.

Just the name of the art conjures up images of desert sands, wealthy sultans, and veiled exotic women. On Saturday, the pastime came to Colorado Springs, in the middle of a blizzard.

The professional dancer Sadie, who doesn’t use a last name, has begun offering classes to local women at the multicultural event center Marmalade at Smokebrush.

“I don’t think there’s too many other dances or art forms in general that really allow women to celebrate being women,” said Sadie, with a glow in her eyes. “It’s a dance that’s really inviting to women of all ages, sizes, shapes.”

“The music and the dancing is really infectious. Once you hear that music, it’s kind of like, ‘Wow.’”

Sadie was slightly late to her class on Saturday because of hazardous road conditions caused by a winter storm. It took her two and a half hours to arrive from her home in the Denver area, but student Demetria Humphries was glad she made it.

“She’s stunning. It’s ridiculous,” said Humphries, who first saw Sadie in a clip on YouTube. “It’s just so sexy, so beautiful, so feminine.”

Sadie also headlined a belly dancing show Saturday night at Marmalade, called Arabian Nights.

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